Portable house



(No Model.) r s Sheets-Sheet 1 H. WQ GOODNOW.

PORTABLE HOUSE.

Patented 001;. 2

TS OQ (No Model.) -3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

H: W. GOODNOW.

PORTABLE HOUSE.

No. 390,589. Patented Oct. 2, 1888.

LVN name o w PETERS. Pholudhhcgnphcr, wmmm n. c.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Shet 3. j

H, W. GOODNOW.

PORTABLE HOUSE.

Patented Oct. 2, 1888.

I l I I I m U I n I l I I witmaomo N. PETERS. Phniwlhhogapber, WnNnflmuaSTATES HENRY W. GOODNOVV, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

PORTABLE HQUSE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 390,589, dated October2, 1888.

(No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY W. GoonNow,

a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Worcester, in thecounty of WVorcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Portable Houses, set forth in the annexedspecification, accompanied by drawings illustrating a portable houseembodying my invention, and in which- D Figure 1 is a perspective viewof one of my improved portable houses. Fig. 2 is a horizontalsectionalview of one of the houses. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional viewon line X X, Fig. 2, with a portion of the interior rear wall removed.Fig. 4 shows the frame-work of one of the sides of the roof. Fig. 5 isahorizontal sectional view of a portion of the side walls, showing theconstruction of a corner of the house; and Fig. 6 is a horizontalsectional v1ew of a portion of one of the side walls.

Similar letters refer to similar parts in the different views.

My invention relates to the construction and arrangement of parts of ahouse in which the sides forming the upright walls and sides of the roofare built in a single piece and so connected at the corners that thestructure can be readily taken apart for transportation; and it consistsin the several details of construction, as hereinafter described, andspecifically set forth in the annexed claims.

I first construct a platform, preferably sup ported upon the timbers A Aand floor-joists B B, which constitutes the floor of the house, ofthesize of the inside of the frame forming the upright walls. The positionof both timbers A A and joists B B is indicated by broken lines in Fig.2. Around the platform I .place a strip of board, B, from two to fourinches wide, and attached by nails or screws to the joists B B, forminga projecting ledge or shoulder, upon which the upright walls of thehouse rest.

Each of the sides of the house is similarly constructed, and therefore adescription of one will serve as a description of the remaining sides.

The sill, or what in ordinary house-building corresponds to the sill, isformed of a board, 0, which may be from four to twelve inches in width.I prefer, however, to make it about sixinehes wide, so that when itslower edge rests upon the strip B it will extend above the upper surfaceof the floor D, to serve as a mop-board. Upon the upper edge of theboard 0,, forming what I term the sill, I place a series of posts orstuds, D, of sufficient height to form the walls of the house, withmetallic strips a an attached to both the posts, and also to the board0, and overlapping the joint between them. On the upper ends of theseries of posts D is a strip, E, forming the plate upon which the roofrests. The post D',I usually make of strips about threeinches in widthand one inch in thickness, and the plate E of the same dimensions, andattached to the upper ends of the series of posts in the same way asthey are attached to the sill, as before de- SC1lb6d-Vlz., by themetallic plates or strips a a. The board forming the sill and the narrowstrip forming the plate, with the posts or studs, thus form arectangular frame having a series of openings between each of the posts.These openings are closed by a strip of paper,

card-board, or similar material, D each strip being equal in length tothe height of the walls of the house and as wide as the space betweenthe posts, with the width of the two adjacent posts added, so that thestrips of paper or cardboard will lap at their edges for about the widthof the posts, and I place the batten pieces F over the overlapping edgesof the paper or card-board and secure them firmly to the posts D bymeans of nails or screws clamping the overlapping edges of the paper orcard-board between the pieces F and the posts D.

Upon each of the corner-posts I fasten the leaves of ordinary hinges, G,one of which is shown in Fig. 5, one of the leaves being fastened uponone of the cornenposts and the corresponding leaf upon the contiguouspost of the adjacent side, with the pintle uniting the two leaves of thehinge removable, so that the two adjacent sides of the house are readilyseparated. I attach the bottom board or sill, G, to the frame-work whichsupports the floor by means of the bolts H, (shown in Fig. 3,) the boltspassing through the sills into the ends of the floor-j oists,and alsointo the side of the two joists at the side of the house.

The roof is constructed in a manner similar to that of the sides justdescribed, and is shown in detached view in Fig. 4, where the frameworkof one side of the roof is shown.

The strips I rest on the plates E, and the stripsJ form the hip-rafters, which are brought together at the top, forming with thestrips I a triangle, except when the house is provided with a ventilatorat the top, as shown in the drawings, when the bar J is placed across.The side rafters, K K, are attached to the hiprafters and to the stripsI in the same manner as the posts are attached to the sills and plates,as already describedviz., by means of the metallic plates or strips a a.The strips I and also the hip-rafters J are provided with the leaves ofordinary hinges, G, in the same manner as the corner-posts of thevertical walls above described, having removable pi-ntles which allowthe roof sides to be attached to the plates and also at the hip-raftersin the same manner as the sides of the house are united. The jointsformed at the corners of the vertical walls and also at the junction ofthe hip-rafters are closed, as shown in detail in Fig. 5, by means of astrip of paper, card-board, or some similar material, D", which is bentaround the corner and fastened beneath the corner battens. The paper orcard-board, D, with which the frame of the roof is covered, is likewisesecured to the rafters by battenstrips L, and beneath the batten-stripsplaced over the hip-rafters I secure a strip of paper or card-board toclose the joint between the hip-rafters, as shown at L, Fig. 3.

Between certain of the posts I place windows M by placing a bar, N,across the space between the post-s D and attached to the posts D bymetallic plates (0 a, Fig. 3. In these rectangular spaces I place awindow-sash by hinging it at the top, so that the bottom may be carriedout from the house and supported by a brace-rod, D*, Fig. 1.

Between such of the posts as may be desired I place doors, one of whichis shown at 0, Fig. 1. Upon the inside of the posts D, I place a lining,P, of paper or card-board, attached to the inner sides of the posts bymeans of the batten-strips P, clamping the lining firmly between theposts Dand the interior batten-strips, P.

The strips of paper or cardboard, D, covering the vertical walls of thehouse, extend down over the wide board forming the sill of the house,and the outside batten-strips, F, also extend downward over the sills,so that there is no open joint at the floor, and the corner strips ofpaper or card-board,D,entirely close thejoints at the corners of thevertical walls.

Then the house is to be taken down, the outside corner battens areremoved and the corner strips of paper or card-board, D, are removed.The similar battens and strips of paper or card-board, L, at thejunction of the hip-rafters are also removed, and the pintles of theconnecting-hinges are withdrawn, the sides of the roof removed, and thevertical walls taken down by removing the bolts by which they areattached to the frame-work of ing be used, as shown, as it secures anairspace between the lining and the outer wall, rendering the housecooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. I also prefer to closethe joint at the corners of the vertical walls on the inside by means ofa strip, R, Fig. 5, secured beneath the interior corner battens, whichcan be removed, as in the case of the exterior corner battens, when thehouse is to be takendown. Instead of the timbers A A, forming in thepresent instance the support for the floor-j oists, posts driven intothe ground may be employed.

I secure an ample ventilation of the interior of the house by means of aventilator,S,placed at the apex of the roof, through which the heatedand impure air of the interior finds exit in a constantly-ascendingcurrent, supplied by an inward current through the bot- 1 tom of theoutwardly-opened windows.

I am aware that the frame-work of houses has heretofore been sheathed orcovered with paper. Such use I do not claim; but

What I do claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

1. As an article of manufacture, a portable house made as abovedescribed, and consisting of vertical walls formed by a series of postssecurely united at their lower ends to a board placed edgewise to saidposts and forming the sill, and at their upper ends to a strip of boardplaced edgewise to the posts and forming the plates, card-board stripsoverlapping one another and placed over and covering the rectangularopenings between said posts, batten-strips placed over the overlappingstrips of card-board and opposite each post to which it is attached,thereby clamping the edges of card-board between said posts andbatten-strips, the adjacent posts at each corner being attached togetherby the leaves of ordinary hinges attached to the posts, said leavesbeing provided with removable pintles, whereby the sides may beseparated at the corners, and a roof formed similarly to the sides-viz.,of a light frame-work joined together at the corners and divided intoopenings by bars or rafters crossing said framework, and having theopenings so formed covered with card-board, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with the frame-work having card-board panels,substantially as de scribed, and forming the vertical walls and roof ofa portable house, of the leaves of or dinary hinges provided withremovable pintles, said leaves being attached to the contiguat thecorners and batten=strips placed outside and opposite said posts,substantially as de- IO scribed,

HENRY W. GOODNOW.

\Vitnesses:

RUFUS B. FOWLER, JOHN C. WOODBURY.

